We've had a great day. Yesterday's heavy weather has gone, and we've had an oily, mirror-flat sea all day today, sadly with no wind. We were cheered when a boat ahead reported a seven-fold increase in wind strength, but it transpired it had gone from 0.5 to 3.5 knots! We still have paroxysms of anxiety whenever a fishing boat heads towards us, but there has never been any sign of evil intent.

We're in the middle of the Java Sea, 60 miles from land. We've been over an uncharted shallow area, about 12 metres deep, and we could clearly see the sand and coral below us; I even picked out a large fish resting on the sea- bed, probably a grouper a couple of metres long. The water here is the clearest we have ever seen, and it seems as though the boat is suspended in mid-air. We had a lovely visit from some pointy-nosed dolphins - they seemed to be hanging in space below our bows.

We still think we can make Nongsa without refuelling, but it'll be a close call, so we're being ultra economical with fuel. So all well here.

ETA Nongsa early hours of Saturday morning, then probably Singapore on Sunday.

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